Sources: Seattle soccer star Montero subject of police investigation

Published 1:00 am, Friday, April 3, 2009

SEATTLE -- A woman called the King County Sheriff's office this week alleging that Seattle Sounders FC soccer star Fredy Montero was stalking her, two law enforcement sources said Thursday evening.

According to a law enforcement report about the incident, the 23-year-old woman told police on March 31 that she saw Montero in a car near her home in Sammamish. The report stated that she feared for her safety because Montero allegedly had sexually assaulted her in Bellevue the week before on March 22, which she had reported to the Bellevue Police Department.

Montero did not accompany the team to Toronto for this Saturday's game. A Sounders spokesman said Montero didn't travel with the squad because of illness.

Efforts to locate Montero's contact information were unsuccessful, and he could not be reached.

Bellevue police briefed the sheriff's department on the March 22 assault allegation, according to the two law enforcement sources, who said that Montero was the subject of that assault allegation.

Bellevue Police Department spokesman
Greg Grannis
declined to confirm whether Montero is under investigation. But he did say the department is investigating a March 22 sexual assault.

"We have a case number, and it's an open investigation," Grannis said. "It has not gotten far enough to where charges were filed yet."

Grannis said the department does not usually name suspects prior to charges being filed. Detectives have not yet generated a probable cause statement, a document that is usually a precursor to charges being filed.

A King County Prosecutor's Office spokesman would not say whether an assault case involving Montero had been referred to the office for prosecution. No charges have been filed against Montero; jail reports show no record of any bookings involving Montero. King County Sheriff's Sgt.
John Urquhart
said that after preliminary investigation, it appears that no crime had been committed on March 31.

Montero, 21, was named
Major League Soccer
's Player of the Month after scoring three goals in the Sounders' first two games in franchise history.

"We are aware of the situation and continue to gather information," said Sounders spokesman
Dave Pearson
. "We fully support Fredy and expect him to play next week. We will have no further comment at this time."

Seattlepi.com reporters
Levi Pulkkinen
and Casey McNerthney contributed to this report;
Scott Gutierrez
can be reached at 206-448-8334 or scottgutierrez@seattlepi.com.